The Southampton Press Western Edition Person Of The Year: Lars Clemensen

Lars Clemensen has always gone beyond his job description. If there’s work that needs to be done, the Hampton Bays School District superintendent is ready to roll up his sleeves — or his socks — to do whatever is necessary, especially for the children in his community.

That was evident when, during his first year in the district, operating as the middle school principal in 2006, Clemensen was found in a suit and dress shoes standing in 2 inches of water, with a mop in hand, cleaning up after a pipe burst. When there was a deadline to meet, he pitched in to paint nearly 300 linear feet of wall to ensure classrooms were ready for the arrival of students.

His dedication to the families of Hampton Bays, to educational excellence and East End communities at large is why Lars Clemensen has been named Person of the Year for the Western Edition of The Southampton Press.

“I cannot think of someone who works harder than he does to advocate for people in his community,” said High School Principal Chris Richardt, who was also seen mopping and painting alongside his friend and colleague. “Whatever work needs to be done, he does it. He’ll do whatever it takes.

“There’s a photo of us standing in those 2 inches of water hanging on the wall in my office, and whenever I think of Lars, I think of that picture. Because I know, whether it’s painting, mopping, teaching kids or providing funding for a new program, he’s all in — and it’s exciting to work with someone like that.”

That loyalty to the district is rooted deep in Clemensen.

His family lived in the area before moving to Texas when he was in eighth grade. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, with a bachelor’s degree in American studies and government, in 2002, and from Seton Hall University, with a master’s degree in educational leadership, management and policy, in 2005.

He was a legislative assistant for the Texas State House of Representatives and Texas State Senate before becoming a government relations coordinator, and then middle school teacher at Peterson Public Schools in New Jersey as part of Teach for America, a program that provides teachers in low-income areas.

Clemensen was named executive director of the nonprofit’s New Jersey region, which includes Newark and Camden, in 2004. When he was hired in Hampton Bays, the middle school was in the process of being built, and it was Clemensen’s job to develop programs from the ground up. The district had nine principals in the 10 years before him, so he worked to bring stability and leadership back to the equation.

“He very quickly impressed me. He’s a progressive thinker and a really pragmatic person,” Richardt said. “He was literally central to every decision made in the development of that building and its programs, and the experiences that he brought from Teach for America were really unique. It was a great time in my career to collaborate with someone like Lars.”

Clemensen said he learned a lot from his time in New Jersey.

“What I took away from Teach for America is that it’s about the people,” he said previously. “You put the right people in the role, and it’s possible for all kids to be successful. That’s the thing that, in my mind, is the recipe for success.”

Richardt said the thing that was most notable was the way Clemensen collaborated with faculty to create a transition program, which the principal said proved critical for kids moving to the high school.

Clemensen’s work ethic and strong presence led him to become one of the youngest educators in the state to be named a superintendent of schools. He was promoted to the helm in 2010.

“You don’t have that meteoric rise by accident,” said Richard Berglin, who was an elementary school teacher in Hampton Bays for 32 years. “He is a true ambassador for quality education, and I’ve seen a push for teaching excellence in our school system since he arrived. He’s been a shining star. He has endless energy, and he has an impressively keen understanding of the needs of our students here as well as boundless knowledge of what’s currently trending across the educational landscape.

“He really wants the best for our town, our community and our schools — he always has, and he always will.”

That’s part of why Robert Ross, who was deputy supervisor for the Town of Southampton at the time, encouraged the district to choose Clemensen for the top position.

“I wanted somebody who lived in Hampton Bays. I wanted a superintendent who would be able to participate in all the extracurricular activities at night and on weekends, and he certainly has lived up to that,” said Ross, a Hampton Bays resident who was deputy supervisor for six years before becoming Stony Brook Southampton Hospital’s vice president for community and government relations 14 years ago.

“He is certainly a hands-on superintendent,” Ross continued. “Having lived in Hampton Bays for over 30 years and having known several of the prior superintendents, I can say he definitely the best superintendent the Hampton Bays School District has ever had.”

Ken Bossert, the superintendent of the Elwood School District, who was named superintendent the same time as Clemensen, said his friend was held to a higher level of accountability because of his age, but rose to the challenge.

“He has always not only met expectations, but exceeded them. I think Lars is someone held in very high regard by everyone in the field,” said Bossert, who lived in Hampton Bays and completed his student teaching there while Clemensen was in elementary school.

“My first impression was he was advanced beyond his years. He is someone whose perspectives and advice are meaningful to me. If I find myself with a question I’m not sure the answer to, he’s someone I’ll bounce the idea off. I will seek his opinion on how to address a difficult issue. I will see his view on state regulation guidelines I’m having trouble interpreting. It’s funny that a colleague has become a very close friend and a trusted advisor and, in some ways, a mentor.”

What Clemensen did, too, was inspire his fellow colleagues to take the plunge into administration.

Mike Carlson, the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, remembers his second meeting with Clemensen, who had invited him to grab a cup of coffee and walk the middle school building, recalling that it wasn’t an ordinary interview.

“You really got to know him,” Carlson said. “You could see how much of himself he poured into that building and the pride that he took in showing what has been accomplished by the community in opening it, and that it wasn’t just a building — he really did believe that it would be a community center here to support people. For somebody like myself, who was hesitant, that interview made such a difference to me.”

Eric Ferraro, executive director for educational services, who was initially hired in 2013 as the assistant principal of the high school, had a similar experience when asked on a stuffy day in July to walk the track during his interview.

Ferraro, 29 at the time, wearing a full business suit, panicked inside. But, coming from a district where his bosses were much older, and seeing a guy across the table just two years older in the superintendent’s seat, motivated him to dream big.

He was thankful he took that walk.

“He’s charismatic, and I think people gravitate toward that as a leader,” Ferraro said. “I know he eats, sleeps and breathes Hampton Bays. This isn’t a job where, at 3 o’clock, he’s out the door. This is an every-waking-minute job. We joke about how our minds starting going at 2, 3 a.m. laying in in bed, and then you hit the ground running. I truly think that he embodies nothing but advancement for Hampton Bays.”

That’s something Clemensen has taken very seriously even during the COVID-19 pandemic and coronavirus-related shutdown.

“Right now, we are focused on addressing student emotional and mental health while making sure that any gaps or delays in their learning during periods of closure, remote or hybrid instruction are addressed,” the superintendent said. “I think it’s important to note that none of the other obligations we have as educators, or obligations that kids have as students, stopped. Our job for 21 months has been to create a system where we can manage COVID and also keep moving forward.”

Clemensen was seen during the shutdown using his strong social media presence to educate and inform. He’d pop on Facebook or Twitter with daily updates, and even spent his little free time virtually reading books to children or logging into classes.

This school year, he began teaching college preparedness to seniors, and was even seen with his infant daughter, Logan, on his lap while he worked on a budget presentation. He and his wife, Kim, also have a son, Ryland.

“I think he is exactly the type of leader anyone needs in a situation like this,” Carlson said. “I think what Lars understands is that every child is different. Every child not only has different needs, but they also have different pathways. We have a very unique program, and that’s come out of his leadership, whereby we’ve listened and responded to not only outcomes but what helps a child be successful in this world, and how that child can match their interests and career goals well before they finish high school. He’s also gotten the community to understand the strength in our diversity.”

Clemensen and his team, working long shifts and having difficult conversations, identified families’ needs right away during a very challenging time. When it was unearthed that families of the district with over 2,000 kids didn’t have the basics — food, clothes and Wi-Fi — providing that became Clemensen’s mission. That’s also been true during severe weather events, like hurricanes, where the middle school has been used as a Red Cross shelter.

“He is someone who is truly invested in supporting the community,” Bossert said. “Throughout COVID-19 he’s made sure everyone is fed, everyone is clothed. When a new business opens, he’s the first one to call and see if there are opportunities for employment for his students. He’s the type that when he hears about a family in need, he will knock on a door and deliver whatever it is.

“I joke with him all the time that bleeds Hampton Bays purple.”

Clemensen used his position to ensure that every child and family felt safe and supported, said Carlson. Carlson said what the superintendent excels at from the beginning of every situation is identifying who he needs to get speak to and figuring out how he can incorporate that input.

“What is great about him, too, is he will listen for quite a while and take notes, really thinking about what somebody’s saying,” Carlson said. “When he asks for assistance or for input, it’s a genuine ask. And I think that’s what people really appreciate about him. He really does value each person on the team.”

Everything the district did to reopen schools was done directly following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state and federal health department guidance. Clemensen also coordinated with Stony Brook Southampton Hospital and Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, including work with Ross and local pediatrician Dr. Jill Cioffi.

Hampton Bays schools became among the first to offer in-school virus testing, through a partnership with Suffolk County, and have run seven vaccine “PODS” since they became available.

Ross said, to date, 3,984 shots have been administered at Hampton Bays Middle School. With the majority of vaccines — Pfizer’s BioNTech and Moderna’s NIAID — requiring two doses, that’s nearly 2,000 people who have been immunized. On November 30, the district held its first 5-to-11-year-old POD, and 136 kids were inoculated — and are scheduled to receive their second dose of the Pfizer vaccine on December 21.

“With the exception of our hospitals and nursing homes, no community institution has been under greater stress during the pandemic than our public schools, and Lars has been a source of strength and a resource for every school district in the region,” said State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. “As a result, I believe East End school districts have navigated the pandemic better than most regions in the country.

“He took over one of the largest and often most complicated school districts in my Assembly district, and within a very short period of time it became evident that Lars was destined to not just transform the Hampton Bays community but be both a regional and statewide leader in the field of public education,” the assemblyman continued.

He said he’s working with the Hampton Bays superintendent on school funding, mental health and educational challenges presented by the changing demographic on the East End. “I trust his judgment and always welcome his advice. I frequently tell him that someday he will be the state commissioner of education.”

Clemensen is a Suffolk County School Superintendents Association past president and was previously the vice president of the Hampton Bays Chamber of Commerce. He is currently a New York State Council of School Superintendents Executive Board member, vice president of the nonprofit SCOPE Educational Services Board of Directors and treasurer of the Rotary Club of Hampton Bays.

Larry Luce, assistant superintendent for finance and operations, called Clemensen a “visionary” who often pushes to be part of things in the community that are “beyond the district’s scope.”

Clemensen has been in Albany just as recent as last month advocating for legislation on behalf of the district, jumping into a Zoom conference while there to discuss partnering with community members on Canoe Place to revitalize Hampton Bays, and another call to figure out ways to alleviate density on Montauk Highway.

Ferraro said Clemensen has always seen his hometown as the heartbeat of the Hamptons, wanting to make it an epicenter out East.

“It’s great here. It’s a roll-up-your-sleeves, get-to-work kind of community, and there is so much potential to do good,” Clemensen said previously. “Especially because there is no Town Hall here, the school is the central community experience. You vote here, you see shows here, you walk on the track, you exercise on our fields and fitness center. People help each other and they are invested in their kids.

“I’m humbled to be in a position to allocate the resources for the benefit of our kids and our community.”

“In the end, you see the value in what Lars wants to accomplish, and that makes the challenge worthwhile,” said Luce, who entered the district the same year as Clemensen. “Lars has been a champion for kids in Hampton Bays.”

When students and staff arrive to their buildings at the start of each school year, Clemensen greets everyone with: “Welcome home.”

And staff members say they indeed see their schools as a second home, and students and colleagues as a second family.

“I don’t know of any other superintendent where they can walk down any hallway in any building in their district and, for the most part, know every kid’s name,” Ferraro said, “or the kid sees them and their face lights up and they say, ‘Hi, Mr. Clemensen!’”

“He impresses me more and more every day,” Richardt said. “Whenever given an opportunity to plug in and connect, he’s taken every single one of them to expand what we can offer to kids.”

But the superintendent is also a very humble person. After being appointed to his position, he gave a speech to staff at the middle school informing them about his new role. Carlson said Clemensen could have easily made the promotion about himself, but he didn’t.

“Lars is the type of person who will take any recognition and make it about what we have done — this Person of the Year honor included,” he said. “And that’s something that I completely respect about him. He always shares his accomplishments with the people who have helped bring whatever positive it is to fruition. He’s a completely unselfish person, and it motivates every single person that’s part of the team.”

Since Clemensen became superintendent in 2010, the district has introduced a college anti-remediation program that has increased the ability for college freshman to get into classes within their major by 40 percent. The pre-kindergarten program was expanded by 75 percent and now also includes a component for high school junior and senior “apprentice teachers” to come in and support the instructor while learning about the profession of education.

For students looking to enter the service industry, the two-year culinary arts program will arm kids with a food manager’s license and advanced standing in the Suffolk County Community College Culinary Program.

Since 2006, Hampton Bays schools have more than doubled their offerings for Advanced Placement and college-level coursework and, in partnership with state universities, given students the opportunity to take certain high school classes and earn up to 68 college credits.

Opportunity for all kids is key for Clemensen in making sure the community remains strong and students graduate and become productive members of society.

“I know that Lars has an absolute vision for Hampton Bays — for the district and for the community — and he’s always pushing it in a positive direction,” Ferraro said. “I know it’s because he wants students who graduate from here to feel proud of where they’ve come from, but to stay here, also, because they see a future here.

“Everything he does is centered on Hampton Bays. With everything he does he has this long view objective of: ‘How is this better for the school district? How is this better for the community?’”

Bossert said Clemensen is such an informed, involved and passionate leader that he lovingly refers to him as the “honorary mayor of Hampton Bays.”

“His impact on the community extends well beyond the typical role of superintendent of schools,” Bossert said. “He’s really raised the bar for the profession. I think that because he’s been superintendent for as long as he has, there’s some perception in Hampton Bays that all the things that he does for the community is what superintendents do.

“The truth of the matter is, it’s not what all superintendents do — it’s what extraordinary superintendents do.”